The last time I saw this play it was an RSC production at the Barbican featuring a mesmerising performance from David Tennant in the title role. The time before that was as part of the equally unforgettable RSC History Cycle at the Roundhouse. This new production from Nicholas Hytner at the Bridge was therefore up against stiff competition.
The first test of any Shakespeare production, and quite a few recent ones I've seen have not passed it, is whether the text is well delivered such that it ceases to be a barrier. While not completely flawless I'm pleased to say that the standard from this ensemble is very high. The money speeches are all there (Gaunt's "this sceptered isle", Richard's various monologues etc.), but there's also much fine work from those in the smaller roles. Hytner also effectively finds humour, though I sometimes found the tendency of the audience to laugh in moments of tension a bit baffling.
Hytner and designer Bob Crowley's production is more mixed - serviceable but not often freshly illuminating in itself. The best work comes from Hytner's partnership with movement director James Cousins. There's welcome fluidity to many scenes. Effective tension is found in the physical placing of performers, and this too mitigates the shortcomings over the broader production. The direction of Jonathan Bailey's Richard in particular helps to illuminate the text. In the early scenes much is made, subtly, of how Richard carries himself physically and looks on others, thus later a line about having only lately learned that his look now doesn't achieve the same effect has the more punch. Similarly there's a finely judged symmetry between the way he regally stretches out both hands in an early scene, with the parallel moment after his fall when the same gesture conjures an image of one to be crucified. Bruno Poet's lighting also contributes strongly, highlighting protagonists, lingering on observers foreseeing doom.
It's not that the broader production is seriously flawed but it fails to give us much in the sense of place. It's at its best when barest - the admittance of various bits of furniture and other objects - a large kitchen table that seems to have wandered out of a vicarage, the hospital bed, the excessive artillery piece - don't add to the drama, rather slowing it and causing one to notice the operation of the stage lifts.
The most serious problem is Carolyn Dowling's intrusive, ineffective soundscape. I was not surprised to discover reading her bio in the programme afterwards that she was also responsible for sound design for the Almeida's Summer and Smoke and several undistinguished Norris era NT productions. In this case the problem is that the soundscape seems to necessitate the miking of the entire company (unless that's also a consequence of the thrust stage configuration). The show survives better than many straight plays I've seen in recent times that include miking - and at least we're not subjected to people seizing handheld microphones and shouting into them - but it does have the usual effect of flattening dynamic range.
Turning to the ensemble I've already mentioned Bailey's strong performance in the title role - drawing the eye while not seeking to dominate except as the text requires. He's well matched by Royce Pierreson's Bolingbroke - one regrets that we don't get to follow that King's maturity and end into the Henry IV plays. There's fine supporting character work from Michael Simkins's York. I hadn't recalled the role of Aumerle from either of the two previous versions of this play I've seen and on this viewing it's a bit of a confused piece of writing. I mention this to commend Vinnie Heaven who throws himself into fitting it all together - strutting arrogantly alongside Richard in the early scenes, playing the gage on gage scene with great wit, and making the best of the discovery and pardon sequence. Altogether he's a lively presence with an expressive face and I look forward to seeing him in further roles. Stephan Boyce, in as understudy for Northumberland, did a superb job and was deservedly singled out at the curtain call. Many of the junior Lords and supporters despite often having brief scenes to work with successfully made them tell.
Overall, while a mixed production the quality of the acting and movement makes this well worth seeing.
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